Sir John Madejski has reassured Reading fans that the identity of the club's new investors TSI will be made as soon as the deal is concluded in March.

It is understood that Russian businessman Anton Zingarevich is the man at the head of TSI.

However, at this moment in time TSI have yet to reveal their true identity - and will only do so if and when the deal goes through, leaving Royals fans in the lurch until March.

But chairman Sir John said there was nothing to be worried about, explaining: "This represents an incredible move forward if it comes off.

"At the moment we're doing due diligence and Heads of Agreement have been signed. It's not a deal until it's done, and it won't be a deal until the end of March. Hopefully everything will be fine - but that is the bottom line.

"The deal is with Thames Valley Sports Investment and only when they want to declare names, they will. At the moment they don't and I understand that, it's sensible and prudent.

"I've obviously met the new shareholders, and they're fit for purpose, they're just the right fit for Reading. Obviously they were interested in other clubs, but I think they saw Reading's reputation as being so well-run, that they decided to pick this one, which we're delighted about.

"I've always said that it's got to be the right fit. And I believe this is, for a whole host of reasons, which I'm sure you'll understand at a later date when the deal has been consolidated.

"It's a great day for me, a great day for Reading Football Club and a great day for everyone.

"When you sign Heads of Agreement, you sign in principle what you want to achieve. Then, the new shareholder will come in and look over everything to do with the football club and make sure they're satisfied that everything we've been telling them is right.

"Then we move forward, they become a shareholder and so on. That's the way that it works.

"In the meantime, as a leap of faith I guess you could say, they will provide funds to strengthen the squad during this window of opportunity - which they are going to take. There won't be anything done irresponsibly, or stupidly.

"Overall this means long term stability, and it means going forward with an opportunity of building. It means we carry on as we are, there's no fundamental change, the ethos and way we do things at Reading will continue in the same spirit and same way.

"We're very proud of our reputation here at Reading, we've got a great manager, a great staff on and off the pitch, and a great squad of players which will no doubt be strengthened before the end of January.

"There will be money immediately available to strengthen the squad before the end of the month.

"But the club will always be prudent, as it always has been. There will be a possibility to strengthen, but only in a sensible way. It won't be a situation of just throwing money at something.

"Everything we do must be prudent, if it's not prudent then we won't do it. There's just more security around the club and a real opportunity of progressing.

"It's great news for Reading, it's great news for the fans and for football. It means we can get investment, which is what we need, what any football club needs."

In the past the club's business model has been very much based on the sale of players.

Royals have a track record at developing talent and then selling for big money such as with the likes of Shane Long, Matt Mills and Gylfi Sigurdsson in recent seasons.

"Instead of getting to the end of each season and possibly relinquishing our better players, we're now hopefully in a position," continued Sir John.

"If the deal concludes at the end of March - where we can keep those players and move forward, which is great news for Reading and the fans.

"I am delighted, I have always said I will take the club as far as I can and stay Chairman as long as necessary.

"I'm delighted to say the new shareholders share the ambition the club has, they want to me to continue as Chairman for two more years at least, therefore there is no change at all. I can still be the proud Chairman of Reading Football Club, the fourth oldest club in the Football League.

"The club will still remain with its same ideology and principles. And it won't be a question of just throwing money at the club - that's not going to happen. It's going to be done in a prudent, sensible way - the Reading way.

"That is why they were attracted to this club - they could see it as a well-run club, which means a lot to them.

"So it's a great day for me, a great day for Reading Football Club. I'm delighted with the new shareholder, delighted with what their exponents are, what they want to do, I'm a delighted Chairman with no misgivings at all about my new partners, I'm delighted because it's just what we wanted."

"I still own the club but I've signed heads of terms, yesterday in fact, and time will tell when it unfolds, we've only signed heads of terms and I'm not in a position to divulge who or what and so on. When we've done a deal, then all will be revealed.

"All I can tell you is that we've run this club in a particular way, which was noticed. Keep it real, keep it sensible and the ambition is to get to the Premier League and keep us there. The shareholder likes what we do here at Reading - that's why they chose Reading.

"Generally it's business as usual, the only difference is that from the end of March, if the deal is satisfactory we will be a far more secure club going forward, with the opportunity of building and strengthening the squad and indeed being serious players for the Premier League, whether it's this season or next season.

"That's the very good news and I'm delighted to share that with you. I would say to the fans that football, like everything else, is a very, very difficult business - and always has been. It's very difficult at this moment in history when everybody knows there's enormous restraint all round."

Sir John also empathised how this deal represented a hugely positive point in the club's future.

Takeover's from foreign investors have been unsuccessful in the past, such as with Portsmouth, but the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea on a much bigger scale have been huge triumphs.

Sir John explained: "I think the one thing about this deal is the fact it's so good for the fans, because in these hard times it's great for the fans to come along - see some inspiring football, see an opportunity for them to forget about their worries and come to a darn good game of football knowing that the club's got enormous ambition to seek the promised land.

"Saturday was one of the happiest days of my life. Why? Because as you know I've led this football club since 1990 and today I'm absolutely over the moon about it and I think it's great for Reading Football Club.

"This is what I've always wanted for the club, at the end of the day I try to do things properly here. We've been living by stealth up until now.

"It's great for the fans, great for all the employees at Reading FC because it means a lot to me that they're all going to be secure, and they've all done their job incredibly well - and they'll keep doing that. As long as they do that they'll be here forever."